How Did the FBI Access Paul Manafort’s Encrypted Messages?

guest · Jun 5, 2018

How Did the FBI Access Paul Manafort’s Encrypted Messages?
June 5, 2018
https://slate.com/technology/2018/06/paul-manafort-how-did-fbi-access-whatsapp-messages.html

WhatsApp allows users to both automatically and manually back up chats to their iCloud accounts. When turned on, the feature uploads a chat log and media to the account at a frequency determined by the user. If the FBI presents Apple with a subpoena, the company is legally required to give the bureau access to the contents of an iCloud account.

However, WhatsApp claimed in 2017 that it had added its own encryption to the backup files, which was supposed to prevent third parties from gaining access to ostensibly secure communications by worming their way into iCloud. Matthew Green, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute, says that the FBI could have subpoenaed WhatsApp for the encryption key or somehow transferred Manafort’s account to another phone.

Backup features ultimately aren’t doing any favors for people focused foremost on confidentiality.
For average users who are not committing crimes, backing up WhatsApp data can still render it vulnerable to hackers, according to Green. Even without the power of a subpoena, hackers can still break into an iCloud account by stealing the password—as has happened with many celebrities—and restoring WhatsApp on a new phone.
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RockLobster · Jun 7, 2018

They probably captured the password from the users device.

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How Did the FBI Access Paul Manafort’s Encrypted Messages?

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